"I am convinced that the fight for the family, and the free citizen, and everything decent, must now be waged by the one fighting form of Christianity." - G.K. Chesterton

Ad Jesum per Mariam

...if you genuinely wish to reach a high level of prayer in all honesty and without falling into the traps that the devil sets for those who pray, SAY your Rosary everyday... St. Louis-Marie Grignion de Montfort

Sunday, November 24, 2013

The Poor Widow's Contribution, GMT for MONDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2013

The Poor Widow's Contribution (Luke 21:1-4)

The Proclamation of the Holy Gospel according to St. Luke

[1] And looking on, he saw the rich men cast their gifts into the treasury. [2] And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in two brass mites. [3] And he said: Verily I say to you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: [4] For all these have of their abundance cast into the offerings of God: but she of her want, hath cast in all the living that she had.

The Gospel of the LordPraise to you Lord Jesus Christ

MEDITATION : The Gospel for this Monday gives us a person to imitate, and this is the poor widow whom Jesus Christ noticed. Beside some wealthy people, this poor widow puts her two small coins as offerings into the treasury just as her love for God and her love for her neighbor is a matter she must offer to God. We can say that this poor widow has no deceit in her heart for she is true in giving her offering. And even so her two small coins is far more humble than those of wealthy men whose offerings came from surplus wealth that they do not treasure the most and has no much importance to them, the poor widow’s heart in giving her offering is much more big and great than the rest. Her intentions are pure in giving her part. Her act is a prayer. Her two small coins, though it is her whole livelihood, was offered even if she is in poverty! Why so? It is so because the poor widow knows in her heart that all of these things will be brought to nothing. All of these material riches and earthly possessions are nothing. The words of C.S. Lewis or Clive Staples Lewis were very fitting to the act of the poor widow: “Everything that is not eternal is worthless in eternity.”

The poor widow’s contribution may be likened to the two great commandments of God. To love God with all of what you are and all of what you have and to love you neighbor as you love yourself. You can love without money. It is so because you can love God and your neighbor as yourself even without material things or money. The poor widow shows that she herself can be detached from earthly things because she has God in who she is attached and is dependent on Him alone. She is free from earthly things that encircle persons with chains and pulling them together unto them. That is why we must not let our possessions possess us. You must not let your possession possess you.

The poor widow is an anawim or poor in spirit because although she is poor when it comes to material possessions or earthly riches, herself is rich in God; she have God as her support, she clings to God and is dependent on Him. She possesses only God, her Only possession that freed her from the vanities of this world.

You? What are your possessions that possess you? Can you consider freeing yourself and detaching yourself from these things that makes you mad? Can you not have but one possession which is God?

Let me share you a song that breaks me often into tears which I use even me singing it alone in my home. This “Paghahandog ng Sarili” or “Kunin Mo, O Diyos” was composed by a Filipino Jesuit priest whose surname is Hontiveros.

And from the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola S.J., translation by Louis J. Puhl, S.J.. This is one of the prayers written by St. Ignatius aside from Anima Christi. This is the Suscipe.

“Take, Lord, and accept all my liberty, my memory, my understanding, and my entire will, all that I have and possess. Thou hast given all to me. To Thee, O Lord, I return it. All is Thine, dispose of it wholly according to Thy will. Give me Thy love and Thy grace, for this is sufficient for me.”

And St. Teresa of Avila’s prayer which I written down in a bookmark:

“Let nothing disturb you.
Let nothing dismay you.
All things pass.
God never changes.
Patience attains all that it strives for.
He who has God, finds he lacks nothing.
God alone is enough.”

And my two prayers as a follower of Montfort Spirituality:

“I am all Thine and all that I have is Thine, O most loving Jesus, through Mary, Your most holy Mother.”

“I am a useless slave of the King Jesus through my Queen and Mother Mary. I am just doing what is commanded of me by my King and Queen.” (Luke 17:10)

Here are some points to consider:

1 We must all be poor in spirit even if we are rich in material possessions because we are just stewards of these things and we must share these with love to our neighbors who are in need of these.

2. Give your all to God, and everything that you are.

3. Do not let your earthly possessions possess you.

4. “Do not serve God to have a reward. Let God be your reward!” – St. Augustine

“Jesus, I trust in You.” “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.”To the greater glory of God!

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The Queen Mother and the King

ST. DOMINIC DE GUZMAN

"He encountered heretics on his way to France. In his opinion was that the people were not to blame - the preachers were. If there are good, orthodox preachers, then the people will be good and orthodox also. So, he founded the Ordo Praedicatorum - Order of the Preachers...."